Prescot Cables & the Manchester League

Did you know that Prescot Cables were once members of the Manchester League?

At the end of the 1953-54 season, Cables first team finished bottom of the first division of the Lancashire Combination and were relegated. League rules prevented a club’s first team and reserve side from playing in the same division. Therefore, the Cables reserve eleven were forced to drop out of the Lancashire Combination. Normally, it would have been expected that Cables Reserves would have been accepted into the Liverpool County Combination for the coming season. However, the Liverpool County FA declined their application, forcing the club to explore pastures new. The Committee applied to place the Reserve side in the Manchester League for the first time, alongside other newcomers, Avro and Newton Heath Loco.

This was actually an astute move by the club’s Committee. At the time, the Manchester League included the A teams of Manchester United, Manchester City, Bury and Stockport County and the reserve sides of a number of Lancashire Combination and Cheshire League clubs, together with several “works elevens” making up the numbers. At the League’s Annual General Meeting, it was reported that several clubs had expressed reservations about admitting Prescot. However, speeches in favour of “the strangers” were made by the representatives of Stockport County, Droylsden, Manchester United and, particularly, Manchester City. That these supportive comments were both unexpected and unsolicited highlighted the good reputation that the club enjoyed.

In the previous season, attendances at Hope Street had declined, but the prospect of seeing new sides visiting the town bringing new challenges to Hope Street was attractive to the paying supporters and attendances for these reserve games were healthy.

Cables Reserves first game in their new surroundings was away at fellow newcomers, Newton Heath Loco, the Cables winning, 2-1.

This was followed up with a home game on Bank Holiday Monday against the young starlets of the Manchester United ‘A’ team, which drew a very healthy attendance of just under 1,000 spectators to Hope Street, yielding gate receipts of £43. They witnessed an exciting game, with Matt Busby’s ‘Babes’ running out 5 - 2 winners, after Powell missed a penalty for Cables. Freddie Crampton and Alec Muir were the scorers for Cables, with Cassidy (2), Scanlon (2) and a Birkett penalty for United.

The line ups for the match were

Prescot Cables Reserves:  Tommy Fletcher, Bill White, Bill Maddison, Tommy McMahon, Powell, Freddy Topping, Broady, Alec Muir, Freddie Crampton, Roy Prescott, George Kennerdale

Manchester United A: Clayton, Fulton, Bent, Harrop, Goodwin, Barrett, Birkett, Whitehurst, Cassidy, Hambleton, Scanlon

The Manchester United A team was a key part of the youth development policy at Old Trafford, instigated by Matt Busby and his coaches, Jimmy Murphy and Bert Whalley. The A team was, effectively, the nursery for the ‘Busby Babes’, with many of those players progressing through the Reserves and into the first team. Players from the A team also formed the core of the successful United Youth team, which won the first five FA Youth Cup Competitions between 1952-53 and 1956-57.

Life in the Manchester League was a new adventure for a Cables side, and whilst the Cables first team was romping through the Lancashire Combination second division - including recording an 18 - 2 victory over Great Harwood Town - the reserve side more than held their own amongst the new company. From the beginning of September to mid-December Cables Reserves were unbeaten and dropped only 4 points from 10 games. They eventually finished in a creditable sixth position, behind runaway champions, Manchester United ‘A’.

In November 1954, Taylor Bros FC - the works side of the Taylor Bros Steel Company - had their ground at Barton Lane, Eccles, sold from beneath them for the development of a new cotton waste processing factory. As a result, the works side was forced to resign their place in the Manchester League.

They would not be the only side to withdraw from the league during the season. In February 1955, following a 7 - 1 home defeat to Prescot Cables, high running costs and poor gate receipts forced Hazel Grove Celtic to disband and resign from the League. Their game against Cables had yielded gate receipts of less than 10 shillings. They had struggled at the bottom of the division all season, and their record was expunged.

The Manchester United youngsters were almost in a different league to the rest. After 9 games United had scored a remarkable 60 goals and conceded just 5. In January 1955, a 15 - 0 victory over Miles Platting brought United’s goal tally to 150 from 22 matches. However, the expunging of the Hazel Grove record particularly impacted on Manchester United, who had already beaten Celtic home and away. The removal of the 4 points and 23 goals from their goals-for column meant that, for a time, United lost the league leadership to rivals Manchester City, who had not yet played Hazel Grove!

In February 1955, Cables Reserves also reached the semi-final of the League Cup competition - the Gilgryst Cup, where they met the all-conquering, “Busby Babes” of Manchester United’s ‘A’ team at Bury’s Gigg Lane ground. The game is most notable for being the first ever Prescot Cables game to be played under floodlights.

Cables fielded a strong eleven, boosted by several first-teamers, especially after goalkeeper, Tommy Fletcher and Freddy Topping missed the coach and had to be replaced by Frank Garton and Tommy McMahon.

After an evenly contested first half, with the score at one goal each, United eased to a 3 -1 victory on a snow covered pitch, resembling an ice rink. However, it could have been a different story after Cables felt that some vital decisions went against them. Firstly, they appealed for a penalty in the first half, only for the referee to, inexplicably, award them an indirect free kick inside the box, after consulting his linesman, and, secondly, they were adamant that during a goalmouth scramble, another shot had crossed the line, before being clawed out and no goal was given. United’s third goal on the night was a penalty scored Bobby Charlton.

The line ups for the match were

Manchester United A: Clayton, Greaves, Fulton, Harrop, Cope, Whitehurst, Charlton, Hamilton, Cassidy, Barnett, Scanlon

Scorers: Cassidy, Hamilton, Charlton (pen)

Prescot Cables Reserves: Frank Garton, Tommy McMahon, Harry Grisedale, Albert Emptage, Albert Jelly, Frank Phillips, Douglas Price, Eric Critchley, Dougie Devonport, Roy Prescott, Bobbie Middleham

Scorer: Critchley

Unfortunately, the spectator interest in the match was minimal and the gate receipts amounted to a little over £30. After the deduction of expenses by the league, the remaining receipts were split three ways, with Prescot’s share not even covering the cost of the bus to get them to Bury!

A month later, Cables Reserves met United’s A team in a league fixture under the floodlights - this time at United’s training ground, The Cliff, in Broughton.

Under coaches Jimmy Murphy and Bert Whalley, Manchester United ’A’ comfortably won the league, remaining unbeaten throughout the season, and scoring an incredible 202 goals - an average of almost 6 per game - and conceding just 22. They completed the league and cup double, for the third consecutive season, after beating New Mills in the Gilgryst Cup final.

However, at the end of the season, they, along with Manchester City ‘A’ and Bury ‘A’ all resigned from the Manchester League.

Amongst the players appearing in the United A team that season were Tony Hawksworth, Ian Greaves, Geoff Bent, Bobby Harrop, Peter Jones, Walter Whitehurst, Noel McFarlane, Jackie Scott, Liam ‘Billy’ Whelan, Laurie Cassidy, Tom Barrett, Albert Scanlon, Tommy Hamilton, Terry Beckett, Eddie Colman, John Metcalfe, Eddie Lewis, Ivan Beswick, Paddy Kennedy and Bobby Charlton

Sadly, Eddie Colman, Liam Whelan and Geoff Bent, and coach Bert Whalley all died in the Munich air crash in 1958.